The Day After Bull Run: A Dewey Defeats Truman Moment for Washington Newspapers

150 years ago today, Washingtonians woke up to a dismal scene of a battered Union army straggling back into town after suffering a rout near Manassas Junction the previous day.  A rule of thumb when it comes to reporting during wartime is that first reports are generally flawed.  This certainly was the case with morning coverage in Washington newspapers.  Undoubtedly, when the type had been set for the July 22, 1861 edition of Washington's The National Republican newspaper, first reports (and the actual tactical situation on the battlefield) from Bull Run had in fact been promising.  A 5:20 PM telegraphic dispatch from the 21rst was amongst the latest reports included in the paper:  "Another dispatch says the Federals have won the day.  The loss on both sides is heavy.  But the rout of the rebels is complete."   It was noted that from Georgetown, artillery fire from the battlefield, some 30 miles away, could be heard.

Headlines from the July 22, 1861 edition of The Washington National Republican, a day after the Union Army had suffered a rout at Manassas.(Library of Congress)

 

Did a Southern Spy on 16th Street Win Bull Run for the Confederates?

My wife and I spent Saturday morning hiking around Manassas National Battlefield and had lunch in Old Towne Manassas.  In downtown Manassas, I noted that a Civil War Trails sign credits Confederate General P.G.T. Beauregard's July 21, 1861 victory in the Civil War's first major land engagement to Mrs. Rose O'Neal Greenhow of Washington for providing him information  concerning an imminent Union attack.  While there are numerous stories of daring southern belles providing intelligence to grateful Confederate generals, many of these stories seem to be just that, stories that cannot be supported by historical facts.  Can we separate fact from fiction with the story of Rose Greenhow and did the fledgling Confederacy really owe its first victory to this widower in her late 40s?

A social gadfly, Greenhow was a pillar of antebellum Washington befriending both northern and southern movers and shakers including Senator John C. Calhoun, President Buchanan, and even William Seward.   Despite her strong Southern sympathies, she continued to entertain Union officers and Republican politicians at her small home  on the west side of 16th Street across from St. John's Church in an effort to discern any information that she could provide the South  (The approximate site of her home, just across Lafayette Square from the White House, is now occupied by the Hay-Adams Hotel.  Ironically the hotel is partially named after Lincoln's private secretary John Hay who lived on the premises when he later served as Secretary of State.)